To the despair of my parents, I am not religious – in any sense of the word. Nevertheless, I do recognize the symbolism of religious ceremonies, observances, rituals and calendars. Take, for instance, Easter.

After the vermin endemic to suburban Los Angeles and beloved by the deluded hug-a-pest-but-grow-a-garden-instead-of-a-lawn hippies, destroyed 70% of my crop last year, I was ready to give up. Then, we had two deaths in the family (more or less expected, but still difficult to get through). So, I’d not been to the vineyard since I pulled the netting.

But as LAFD wants vegetation cleared by tax day, something needed to be done. Yesterday was as good a day as any.

This cooler-than-normal-but-drier-than-recent winter had fed the native wild grasses and grains and they were now a pale straw-gold color. Nothing a new ($70) string trimmer could not fix in 80 minutes.

As it was not yet unbearably hot when I was done mowing, I brought out the loppers and did a rough pruning because apical buds (and basal ones, too) were starting to put out leaves.

I guess I am not 100% resigned to abandoning the project and don’t want the vines getting overgrown and wild.

Afterwards, I made a quick cell phone video:

So I guess, it’s back on – this vineyard thing. It’s a tenuous rebirth, but a rebirth.

Whatever happens here, I will likely have some information about some consulting I’ve been doing at the L.A. Arboretum and the Mission San Gabriel. Who knows….. I might even take up the DNA identification project to demonstrate that Vina Madre was, in fact, a viable commercial cultivar in the Mission Era….